28 February 2011

This weekend was a cooking, crafting dog-topia kind of weekend. I made Swiss Chard Gratin, which I found very tasty and very green (so green), mashed potatoes and home fries (trying to make sure things don't go bad), and oreo-stuffed cookies. I completely misread the recipe for the cookies, and used just over half the quantity of butter and it still came out just fine.

I have started my dress. The outer pieces are all cut and have been shaped to my body to make sure that it will fit when I get around to sewing. Tonight I will probably cut out the lining pieces and sew those first. The silvery knit filmy fabric is definitely sheer enough that I could read my tshirt yesterday when checking the fit.

My method for this was to fold the fabric roughly doubled, so I had four layers and then fold my tshirt in half and cut around the tshirt. This is similar to the method my friends and I used on my houppelande in college. In college, we folded the fabric and I lay on the fold line. We then placed a piece of fuzz, a penny and another piece of college room detritus at strategic points. And then we realized that none of this accounted for my body's depth and thanked our lucky stars that we had a stretchy knit fabric (velveteen) for the base.

I wanted more ease, so I have cut a gusset-like creature that is roughly 2 inches at the top and wider at the bottom that can roughly stretch from my bra line to the bottom hem.

I wanted this to look professional, but done and lasting for a weekend is more important than looking factory made.

I started the second of my arm warmers for this costume. I'm using Vanna's Glamour in platinum and size 0 and 1 needles. I'd take a model shot of the first one, but I'm lazy. Maybe tomorrow if my husband has time to use the camera. Photographing my own arms seems a little complicated!

Victor got a lot of loving this weekend. It was snowing (again), so I let him out the back door and watched him play in the snow. Snowy days often mean extra treats, because he is a sniffy dog and to encourage extra play time I throw a handful of either the bacon or charlie bear treats. He then spends some good time sniffing and finding the treats in the snow. Otherwise he would pee and then sit at the door to come back in.

I have thanked my lucky stars this winter that we have a huge back yard that he can run around in. I walked him all of last winter and drove myself mental. This way I don't have to walk him every day, though as soon as the weather is better it will be back to the streets for us!

Until then, Victor wants a treat!

We love his face when he hears us say treats (or most other words in the same vague intonation). His ears rise up and he looks so focused! Our food-motivated dog.

Poor puppy. I think we need to give him another treat!

Doesn't he look like the most food-deprived pup in existence?

No actual dogs were starved in the making of this photo. A treat was proffered and accepted for sitting long enough for us to get a cute picture! More treats were thrown out the door later for running around in the snow like a fool dog.

27 February 2011

I was planning on making this knee-length dress today out of this very shiny silver fabric. The fabric is probably the hardest fabric I've ever tried to fold. Yup, just to fold. Right now the fabric is in a mostly folded state and the pattern is carefully folded and replaced in its envelope.

I was so excited about finding a pattern that looked like pretty much what I envisioned in my head that I bought it without carefully reading the description.

And the pattern is too small. Apparently in 1973, it was not common to have multiple sizes of pattern in the same envelope, so I have a dress pattern for someone with a bust almost 4 inches smaller than my own. I might be able to resize everything, but I'm not really inclined. I'm a little disappointed with myself.

On the other hand, I went up to the costume boxes and found a white blouse and a vest that would work (along with a pair of work pants) for my steampunk character. There is something to be said for a complete box of costume stuff.

25 February 2011

It's raining outside. I am going to get to work in a few hours and because of human nature people will complain about the weather. I understand, but I don't want to complain about the weather. The rain is better than tons of snow that involve even more shoveling. I enjoy looking at the pretty snow, but it isn't an option to hole up and stay inside until the snow melts at the end of March. So, thus, rain.

Last night I decided to ignore my arm warmers. I still have about 2 inches to go on my first one, but I really wanted to read. I'm currently reading Wild Cards, hoping to get far enough into the story to make some informed decisions about my character's background for a RPG that is supposed to start in March. It's not a story I have on my ereader, so I put my knitting away and spent a bit of relaxing time doing absolutely nothing.

Today my husband and I are seeing a BU hockey game, so I will have a lot of time to work on my arm warmers. I love watching hockey, but I'm not one of those people who gets all riled up and shouts all the time about the game. So, today will have 5 solid hours of knitting in it. That's all kinds of awesome.

24 February 2011

I went to Windsor Button last night after work. I needed a full set of size 1 dpns (I could find 3 needles at home) and maybe a second skein of similar yarn for the yarn wig for things like highlights.

Now Stephanie has been talking about the Kushu Kushu scarf all week long. I've been thinking about the Kushu Kushu scarf for way over a year. I was in New York at Habu in October, and did not allow myself to buy the Kushu Kushu scarf kits they had available.

I did allow myself that day to buy a single cone (2 ounces) of the silk stainless steel. I had some Kid Silk Haze at home in black, but I didn't want to make a black and white scarf (my stainless steel is in white). So, I fell down and bought the new Manos del Uruguay lace: 70% baby alpaca, 25% silk and 5% cashmere.

I'm not sure I want the end product to be white. I don't know if anyone has tried to dye the silk stainless steel, but I think I'm going to swatch a piece with both yarns together and see how well it takes the dye (and what it feels like afterwards).

Another project for after Intercon!

oh, and I only have 2 games to costume for, because my Sunday morning game is a horde game. I won't have just a single character. This is good, because of less costuming, and bad, because I probably would have picked another game if it had indicated it was a horde style game on the sign up page.

ETA: Oops, I am part of the horde game, but I have one of the full length characters. I am the awesome creator of Lolcats!

23 February 2011

Now, Intercon is at the beginning of March. I have 3 costumes to work on for the different games I'm in, so I'm putting off my sock of the month (so I'll have 2 to work on in March) to work on fingerless elbow length gloves and a wig, plus a dress and whatever else I come up with.

I have materials to make a skirt, a skirt to finish (and has been waiting for hemming and a true waist band for a few years now), and a pillow.

I have a rotation (which I'm still loving, though it has crumbled a bit under my current project load).

I have Iron Craft, which I haven't been able to do since I made the Om coffee cuff (which I still want to write a tutorial for).

I have projects that if I did nothing but hole up and hide from the world would take me at least a year to finish. At least. Probably more.

But then there are designers and blogs. People who love their craft, are good at it, and are wonderfully creative. They keep making new projects.

Like Oranje. I want color work even more badly than I normally want cables. I have at least a few nice colors of sock yarn that aren't being claimed for socks, so I would just need to buy the main color. But right now my color sense is a little whacked. I probably should be buying white for the main body so I can more easily use my current stash of sock yarns for the contrast.

I don't need a new project.

It is going to take till forever to make my husband his socks, because I need to finish a pair of socks in order to slip them into the queue!

Wollmeise Single Malt, 510 yards

It's a gorgeous yarn. It says make something nice for your husband, because he actually wears the stuff you make. But now I'm only 40 weeks behind on everything, and why?

22 February 2011

Saturday was the grand opening of a new craft shop just outside of Central Square. Gather Here is a fabric, stitching and knitting mecca at 370 Broadway in Cambridge. They are open Wednesday through Sunday each week with their late days being Wednesday and Thursday.

I made it a little late to their grand opening on Saturday arriving around noon. The yarn area (on the right hand side of the store) was completely swamped with knitters, who were having a bit of gathering in a group of comfy looking seats near a gorgeous mural. The walls were well stocked with yarns ranging from the uber affordable Peaches and Creme to things like Kidlin, which are fairly hard to come by even with the lovely collection of yarn shops in the greater Boston area.

The left hand side of the store was mostly reserved for sewing. There are a number of sewing machines for classes and I believe they can also be rented and used on site. There was a lovely wall of basic cotton fabrics (though Virginia noted when I came in looking for a slew of fabric that they were missing grey and black) in the middle of the store and along the left hand wall were prints. A lot of these prints were fanciful, perfect for pillows, toys and items for kids, though I know plenty of adults who would completely rock a whale print skirt.

The column in the middle has the cotton fabric on one side, but the opposite side has bolts (on rolls) of some Liberty fabrics. i had never seen a Liberty fabric in person before, and while I could see the quality immediately and understand the allure I also was a little surprised by the sticker shock. My fault for not sewing more regularly. Above the Liberty fabrics are rolls of Aida cloth in weights ranging from 11 ct to 18. Pretty much exactly what you need to work on Ophelia (some day I will finish you).

An aside: It has got to be a bad sign when the project you are referring too is so old that it appears that the company has gone out of business. I was going to link it, but I cannot even find a finished one to show off. The project is a fully stitched rendition of Ophelia (not the Waterhouse one) and is 358x599 stitches. It is huge and the best picture I can find is this one. It's kind of a forever project, because a single square inch can take multiple hours. Whew!

There is a modest selection of DMC floss and hoops as well as a number of items from Sublime Stitching. It is not the place where you would find your traditional cross stitch patterns. They might expand more in that direction in time, and I know that they are hoping to eventually be 7 days a week.

They are doing Knitter's Brunches on Saturday mornings (10 am to noon) with a continental breakfast. The full class schedule is supposed to be up sometime midweek. I'm looking forward to a place to craft with other people where I can chat and hang out without boring my husband!

I bought a yard of this. Maybe I'll be the one rocking the whale skirt!

21 February 2011

I decided to make the same gluten free ice cream cake that I posted about a week or so ago. I would really like the cake to have a better crumb, and the idea is definitely sound.

This time I only used two eggs and separated them. I beat the eggs in and then folded in the egg whites after I beat them to stiff peaks. I didn't use my bundt pan, because it wasn't clean. This might have been a tactical error, because the cake took much longer to cook than it did last time.

I frosted it with a mistake frosting (as in, I should have given up on the frosting idea, but it is just for my husband and I, so we'll eat it anyway).

I then added an egg, a cup of flour, and some baking powder to the mistake frosting and baked cookies.

18 February 2011

Intercon K is at the beginning of March. I have my first character and I know what I want to make/wear:

grey or silver tightsa knee length silver dress with either a mock turtleneck or mandarin style neck and either flutter or cap sleevesarm warmerswig

I might be able to justify wearing the sparkly platforms I bought umpteen years ago, because they were too scary fabulous to leave behind.

And makeup. I normally use makeup as an affordable way to transform myself into many different characters.

Yesterday morning I unearthed my fabric stash. I have this filmy silver swirled fabric. My rough yardage estimate (fingers to nose, fingers to nose) was about 4 yards. That should be enough to make something knee length, but I don't have a pattern. I have cobbled together patterns before for some really simple things, so I should be able to make something that works even if it is not attractive outside of the costuming sense.

There is knitting to be done, tights to buy, and insanity to commence.

16 February 2011

Because Wollmeise is so hard for so many people to get, the yarn has an aura. People go insane trying to get this yarn. I've never been able to get it before, which isn't to say I don't have a skein (well, two). They were prizes for things at the Loopy Ewe or prizes for donating to charity. The colors are gorgeous and the skeins are hugely generous.

The Loopy Ewe announced in Twitter (and probably Facebook) that they had just added some skeins of Wollmeise to the site. When I got to the site, there were 4 colors left out of 20. In the time it took me to pull out my bank card, the color in my cart disappeared, and there was a single color left.

It is mine. A beautiful warm brown that will make good socks for my husband (it is manly rather than insanely bright like some of the skeins I wish I had made it in for).

And now I have bought 5 skeins of yarn for the year. Whoops.And used 7. Well, it could be a lot worse!

15 February 2011

Well, yes. I do read two kinds of blogs: knitting and cooking. I still read most of my blogs via Delicious, but I am slowly transitioning them to the Google Reader. It doesn't hurt that a number of the knitting ones were already available as a group.

So, my favorite non-knitting blogs.

1. Smitten Kitchen. This is by far the blog I go to most frequently when I want to make something. Deb has gorgeous photography and her food sensibilities (with the exception of eating meat) are about on par with mine. Lots of my friends like to cook, and I frequently find food is too heavy or rich. Well, except for desserts, which I expect to be super decadent. She also has a baby food project, which is great for people transitioning their babies to grownup food.

2. Joy the Baker. This is a much chattier feel than Smitten Kitchen, but also has gorgeous food pictures. I don't come here quite as often, but that might just be that I am on Smitten Kitchen too much.

3. The Vegetarian Family Table (formerly known as Baking and Books). This blog is where I always go to remind myself of the ingredients in Vegetarian Chorizo. I've made it so many times that I don't need to look at it any more! It felt more blog-like when it was Baking and Books, but the site is gorgeous and super uncluttered, which makes food the focus.

4. Cupcake Blog. Om nom nom. She has recently started exploring gluten free baking, which will be quite a boon to a lot of people I know! She doesn't post terribly frequently, so shoving her site into Google Reader would make my life easier.

5. Cannelle et Vanille is a cooking blog about an ex-pat from the Basque region who is living in Florida. She has a cookbook coming out (so does Deb from Smitten Kitchen). Her recipes are very much informed by her childhood and she always displays things in small dishes. Her food styling is beautiful, and she is always showing lovely photos of fresh produce, something that makes me a bit happier as we inch our way towards spring.

6. Bakerella. Cake Pops. I know she doesn't just make cake pops, but it is her book, her spots on various television shows, and her huge thing. She also has a ton of printables, for those who want to make a special Valentine's box or celebrate Father's Day, etc. Super creative.

7. Not Martha. While Megan does knit, it is not really the focus of her blog. She provides curated link lists, interesting craft projects, travel reviews, and more. If you are thinking of going to Paris, she documented her trip last year with a multipost series, which really included a ton of tips for what to see and do and how to make your visit as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.

8. Alison of The Blue Blog has a non-knitting blog project that she is doing for one of her classes. I'm enjoying reading about her investigation of a tree outside of her house, and am looking forward to spring as the tree will change (right now deciduous trees look kind of forlorn to me).

9. Tartelette. I'm not sure which blog I found first: Cannelle et Vanille or Tartelette, but this was where I found my huge insane desire to make macaron. I have only made them once. Like many desserts, I wanted to prove I could do it. Knowing I can make anything is actually more important than making them frequently. Mine were not as gorgeous as the one on Tartelette, but definitely delicious. I remember making a ganache of some kind and pumpkin pate de fruit for the filling.

10. Sew Mama Sew. I wouldn't claim that I am either any good at sewing or have any children, but I still love seeing all of the projects. February is pillow month, so there are a ton of great pillow tutorials. The site, despite the name, is not just projects for people with children. There is a ton of variety.

Whew. Of those, 8 cooking blogs (and it could have been more), 1 craft blog (non-knitting), and 1 other. I seem to have a thing for food. Wonder why.